Skip to content

Evil Quote by Ann Leckie

“Good necessitates evil.” quote by Ann Leckie — Download Open image

““Good necessitates evil.””

About This Quote

Source Novel: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, 2013

Good actions often require or to cause harm, highlighting moral complexity.

In simple terms: Good can involve evil.

Key Takeaway

Consider ethical trade‑offs.

Themes

ethics morality conflict

Mood

thoughtful serious

Type

philosophical reflective

When to use this quote

policy making
military decisions
personal dilemmas

Key Concepts

utilitarianism deontology moral philosophy

Questions to Reflect On

When is harming justified?
Can ends justify means?

A Different Perspective

Good may be compromised by necessary evil.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 2.7 out of 5 (4 ratings)

Evil Good Good Necessitates Necessitates Necessitates Evil

More by Ann Leckie

The Romans have provided a lot of writers with a model for various interstellar empires, of course, and no wonder. The Roman Empire is…

Image

“The gender thing is a giveaway, though. Only a Radchaai would misgender people the way you do." I'd guessed wrong. "I can't see under…

Image

“If you’d refused, nothing would have changed, except you’d be dead too. You did what you had to do,”

Image

Unity, I thought, implies the possibility of disunity. Beginnings imply and require endings.

Image

“The single word that directs a person’s fate and ultimately the fates of those she comes in contact with is of course a common…

Image

“I find forgiveness overrated. There are times and places when it’s appropriate. But not when the demand that you forgive is used to keep…

Image

“Ridiculous!" scoffed Anaander. "Translator, ships and stations are not Significant beings, they are my property. I caused them to be built." "I'm given to…

Image

Good necessitates evil and the two sides of that disk are not always clearly marked.

Image

“I saw them all, suddenly, for just a moment, through non-Radchaai eyes, an eddying crowd of unnervingly ambiguously gendered people. I saw all the…

Image

Without feelings insignificant decisions become excruciating attempts to compare endless arrays of inconsequential things. It's just easier to handle those with emotions.

Image

“The smallest, most seemingly insignificant event is part of an intricate whole and to understand why one particular mote of dust falls in one…

Image

“When you’re doing something like this,” I said, “the odds are irrelevant. You don’t need to know the odds. You need to know how…

Image

Explore all 78 Ann Leckie quotes

More Evil quotes

I've always been fascinated by the idea that there's no such thing as evil; it's all in your point of view. To one group…

Image

If ever I did a man any goodof course it was something exceptional and insignificant compared with the good or evil which I am…

Henry David Thoreau

Image

Every action that helps us manifest our divine nature more and more is good; every action that retards it is evil.

Swami Vivekananda

Image

I do conscientiously and sincerely believe that the Order of Freemasonry, if not the greatest, is one of the greatest moral and political evils…

John Quincy Adams

Image

The Republicans do not look on the Democrats as the evil empire.

Image

Let us remember that every worldview-not just Christianity's-must give an explanation or an answer for evil and suffering...this is not just a problem distinctive…

Image

What is done out of love always takes place beyond good and evil.

Image

Evil cannot be "treated" -- nor should it be. Evil has to [be] confronted and destroyed and it matters not why the evil is…

Image

The evil which does me no harm is like the good which in no wise avails me.

Leonardo da Vinci

Image

Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.

Image

Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a…

Martin Luther King, Jr

Image

There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure all things,…

Image

Browse all 9,710 Evil quotes